Getting into Cosplay Orin Work in Progress(wip)

 I am one who loves to sew, loves it. I adore making things like costumes and dresses. I first actually got into cosplay years ago. Well a long ass time ago to be quite honest. Went to one of my first cons, and it was so uncomfortable how grabby some dudes were, that I never went back. Until recently, I really want to go. They look like such fun and Dragon Con is on the top of my list after doing something local like Mega Con in Orlando, FL. I am working on Orin the Red, a cosplay that fingers crossed will be done for Halloween.  Hoping because it is a 3d printed armor, that we are putting a lot of work into. I say we, because it is my husband and I making it. He does the 3d print and I do all the rest. The painting, the shaping, the wig, the makeup, the bodysuit painting, the figuring out how to make it wearable. The thing about cosplay is making the impossible, possible. That is the case for a lot of cosplay, and Orin the Red is definitely not the exception. Trying to make the arms work for this suit has been a lot of heating things and undoing it. 

So far we have one arm done. 

But the original arm we did was too long. 

The Length was an issue since I was unable to move my arm, as in bending it without pinching my arms. We did make the lower arm shorter. And at first we thought the new piece we made for the upper arm was smaller, it in fact was not. It was the exact same size! So with a lot of manipulation and heating the arm up and cooling it off.

Finally it was done, and we decided to put some faux leather on the arms to mimic her armor a bit more in the arms. Orin The Red's armor goes all the way around her arm. Like you see here below!

We did manage to reprint the upper arm and manipulate it a bit to fit right or better I should say. This is not an easy task, and with the needing reprints of things we need to now order more PLA. 

I am really hoping we get this done by Halloween, if not that's ok. I can get out the old Vault 111 suit.

The left arm is almost done being painted. I  Tested out two different Rustoleum primers. One that was "supposed" to work on PLA, but it doesnt. The other was their acyrlic automotive primer. That one did work. It filled in the grooves nicely. The PLA that is non silky is a better option for armor. It is tougher and can handle sanding. The silky filament is not as great with being sanded. It does great on small things and addons. But, not the best for straight up arm bands. It will do, but has a high fail rate. Back to the painting, the automotive acrylic paint can stand up to sanding. It comes in white, grey, and black. I got the white online with Amazon as Walmart only had the grey. I also got a glossy sealer. Which is good because Orin's armor is shiny. 

Each arm has multiple layers of color. All red and mixed reds. I also have a prop blood spray to use. I learned shading and such just by watching Bob Ross videos. You can apply the basics he teaches here. From blending with a dry clean brush to mixing colors. Different brushes give different textures and can do different things even when painting armor. Plus, it's Bob Ross, I mean come on. 

Here we see the, cosplayer, in her natural environment and covered in paint.  

Now when it comes to drying, I forgot to add this until just now. You need to do a sort of hanging system. Priming and setting in a box and the item suspended like I did here. It will dry evenly and drip down. The problem with this armor is that it has the chance of things pooling in the spaces that dip. This armor has a lot of textural elements. Oh and dry time can be up to 24 hours! Especially with humidity. 

I am hoping we can get started on the legs and rest of it soon. 

Thanks for reading!

Orin the Red STL is bought from Etsy here

Rustoleum acrylic paint Amazon Gloss

Acrylic paints used here on Amazon

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